California Craft Brewers Association Stays Ahead of the Game as Industry Enters New Era - Via Brewers Association

As the birthplace of craft brewing and home to the first state brewers association, California is a bellwether for the U.S. craft brewing industry. As is the case across the country, California breweries are growing in number and in size. The maturing of the industry means new issues for California brewers and the California Craft Brewers Association […]

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CraftBeerMarketingDistribution.com just launched by author, Mark Colburn

Mark Colburn, author of Craft Beer Marketing & Distribution – Brace for SKUMeggedon has just launched his web site: http://ift.tt/1Nlhq3L.  The site provides details on his book, some examples of event marketing, a background on Mark and a blog.  His book is available on line through Amazon, Barnes & Noble and in Epub version via Kindle.  Check it out!

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Tennessee Brew Works: Holiday Birthday Bash

DECEMBER 12, 2015. 6-11PM.

Our Tennessee TapRoom is turning TWO!!! Come celebrate with us, musical guests The Goove, a special beer pairing menu and open bar upstairs.

Don’t miss the culinary skills of Chef Jay Mitchell enjoyed alongside the plethora of unique Tennessee Brew Works craft beers created by the brew team led by our very own Dr. Laura Burns!
Tickets are $40 for open bar upstairs, downstairs bar is standard pricing. ORDER YOUR TICKETS HERE VIA EVENTBRITE!

Email caroline@tnbrew.com or call 615-874-0714 with any questions.

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Shmaltz Brewing Company Releases Its Latest Rare Creation CHANUKAH IN KENTUCKY

Limited Release, Limited Markets, but Limitless Bourbon-Infused Flavor
in this 8% ABV Dark Ale Brewed with 8 Malts, 8 Hops
and Aged in Heaven Hill and Jim Beam Barrels

 

“California knows how to party with Chanukah in Kentucky and Sufganiyot from the Mission District’s Dynamo Donuts,” says Ross Allard, Northern California Sales Rep for Shmaltz 

“Don’t listen to that shmuck!” says Shelby Schneider, Shmaltz’s Marketing Director and Upstate New York native. “The best Chanukah doughnuts are made with Barrel-Aged Chanukah in Kentucky at Nibble Doughnut Shop in Troy, NY. Drink Chanukah in Kentucky – in New York – with your Sufganiyot!”

 

Clifton Park, NY — Wednesday, November 25, 2015 — Whatever state you find yourself in, Shmaltz Brewing Company’s new rare and precious Chanukah in Kentucky®, a luscious dark ale aged in bourbon barrels, pairs perfectly with traditional holiday foods, favorite friends and family, and unique beer-loving palates.

Chanukah in Kentucky® is now available on draft and in 22-ounce bottles only at a chosen few craft beer bars and top retailers on an extremely limited basis throughout the 35 states within Shmaltz’s distribution network. Get it when you see it – there’s no miracles coming to keep the beer flowing once this one and only batch is gone.

Early last spring, Shmaltz’s brewing crew loaded a small amount of freshly fermented Hanukkah, Chanukah: Pass the Beer® into Heaven Hill and Jim Beam bourbon barrels. Now, eight months and many sensory tastings later, this latest Chosen Beer has developed an array of gifts for the beer lover’s taste buds: complex flavors of dark cherry and dates, light coffee roast and bakers chocolate. A confection of toffee, caramel, hints of vanilla and maple all arise with the unmistakable aromas of barrel strength bourbon from the first-use boozy beauties.

“Chanukah in Kentucky® is a delightful experiment that leans on the 8 malts, 8 hops and bourbon-splashed woody oak to impart a rich flavor and medium body, which makes it an extra-special addition to traditional Chanukah meals,” says Richie Saunders, Lead Brewer at Shmaltz. “It’s a boundary-busting brew created just for our dedicated tribe of craft beer freedom fighters.”

Malts:

2-Row, CaraPils, Dark Crystal, Chocolate Malt, Victory, Wheat Malt, Munich, Flaked Oats

Hops:

Warrior, Chinook, Fuggle, Vanguard, UK Goldings, Willamette, Liberty, Centennial

 

Chanukah in Kentucky® is the latest offering from the brewery’s award-winning series of barrel-aged brews, which includes highly rated beers such as Funky Jewbelation® (95 on Ratebeer.com), Bock Bock® (98 on Ratebeer.com) and RIPA on RYE® (98 on Ratebeer.com).

If you want to weigh in on the debate and make your own Sufganiyot to pair with Chanukah in Kentucky®, Martha Stewart tells you how here. L’Chaim, Martha!

After the launch of the first night of Chanukah in Kentucky® at the Shmaltz Brewing Company Tasting Room in Clifton Park, NY, on Friday, November 13, only 15 out of 718 cases available nationwide will still be available at Shmaltz. Events around the country will feature Chanukah in Kentucky®, Jewbelation 19® (19^th Anniversary release), Hanukkah, Chanukah: Pass the Beer®, and other Shmaltz favorites. Please see the list of events below.

Shmaltz Brewing Regional Chanukah 2015 Events:

*Wednesday, Dec. 2, 2015 @ Garrison Bar & Lounge (220 Beach Road, Lake George, NY: 6pm – 9pm) Tap Takeover featuring six Shmaltz beers including Hanukkah, Chanukah: Pass The Beer®. 

*Wednesday, Dec. 2, 2015 @ City Swiggers (320 East 86^th Street, New York, NY: 6pm – 9pm) Shmaltz features several holiday selections from their award-wining craft beer lineup.

*Thursday, Dec. 3, 2015 @ Subculture (45 Bleeker Street, New York, NY: 6:30pm) Shmaltz features several holiday selections from their award-wining craft beer lineup.

*Thursday, Dec. 3, 2015 @ Whole Foods (4100 Lomo Alto Drive, Dallas, TX 3pm – 5pm) Shmaltz features several holiday selections from their award-wining craft beer lineup.

*Friday, Dec. 4, 2015 @ WOB Arlington (5005 S. Cooper Street, Arlington, TX) Chanukah vs Christmas: The Battle Royale of Beers featuring He’brew Beer and seasonal Christmas beers from other national breweries.

*Friday, Dec. 4, 2015 @ Wolff’s Biergarten (165 Erie Blvd, Schenectady, NY: 6pm – 8pm) Tap Takeover featuring Chanukah in Kentucky® as well as other Shmaltz brews. 

*Friday, Dec. 4, 2015 @ Schenectady Armory (125 Washington Avenue, Schenectady, NY: 1pm – 4pm) Shmaltz features several holiday selections from their award-wining craft beer lineup. 

*Sunday, Dec. 6, 2015 @ Shmaltz Brewing Tasting Room (6 Fairchild Square, Clifton Park, NY) Chanukah Party featuring Chanukah in Kentucky®, Jewbelation 19®, Hanukkah, Chanukah: Pass the Beer®, and light snacks including bagels, shmear, latkes, and donuts. Shmaltz will host a Beer Menorah building contest and dreidel spinoff.

*Monday, Dec. 7, 2015 Latke Fest @ Metropolitan Pavilion (125 West 18^th Street, New York, NY) Latke Fest featuring several holiday selections from Shmaltz’s award-wining craft beer lineup.

*Monday, Dec. 7, 2015 Hanukkah Happy Hour on the Hill 2015 @ (Capitol Lounge 229 Pennsylvania Ave SE) Stanton & Greene (319 Pennsylvania Ave SE) featuring several holiday selections from Shmaltz’s award-wining craft beer lineup.

*Tuesday, Dec. 8, 2015 @ Capital City Gastropub (261 New Scotland Avenue, Albany, NY: 5pm – 10pm) Gastropub Beer Pairing featuring Chanukah in Kentucky®, Vulcan Ale®, Slingshot American Craft Lager®, and Hop Manna IPA®.

*Tuesday, Dec. 8, 2015 @ Brass Tap Fort Lauderdale (551 North Federal Highway, Suite 600, Fort Lauderdale, FL: 8pm) Shmaltz features several holiday selections from their award-wining craft beer lineup.

*Wednesday, Dec. 9, 2015 @ Project 29 (836 State Highway 29, Broadalbin, NY: 6pm – 8pm) Shmaltz features several holiday selections from their award-wining craft beer lineup.

*Thursday, Dec. 10, 2015 @ Bar 1502 Noodle House (4993 Niagara Avenue, San Diego, CA) Chanukah vs Christmas: The Battle Royale of Beers featuring He’brew Beer and seasonal Christmas beers from other national breweries.

*Thursday, Dec. 10, 2015 @ Star & Shamrock (1341 H Street NE, Washington, DC) Chanukah Party featuring Hanukkah, Chanukah: Pass the Beer®.

*Friday, Dec. 11, 2015 @ The Craftsman Ale House (235 Harrison Avenue, Harrison, NY) Chanukah Party featuring a Tap Takeover of eight Shmaltz beers.

*Friday, Dec. 11, 2015 @ Friar Tuck Beverage (4635 State Hwy K, O’Fallon, MO) Shmaltz presents samples of Shtick In A Box, Chanukah in Kentucky®, and Jewbelation 19®.

*Saturday, Dec. 12, 2015 @ Quad Alehouse (868 5^th Ave, San Diego, CA) Chanukah vs Christmas featuring He’brew Beer and seasonal Christmas beers from other national breweries. 

*Saturday, Dec. 12, 2015 @ JCCSF (3200 California Street, San Francisco, CA) JCCSF “Unplugged” Chanukah featuring Chanukah in Kentucky® and Hop Manna®.

*Saturday, Dec. 13, 2015 @ Northern Bell (612 Metropolitan Avenue, Brooklyn, NY: 12pm – 2pm), Barcade (388 Union Avenue, Brooklyn, NY: 2pm – 4pm), and Spuyten Duyvil (359 Metropolitan Avenue, Brooklyn, NY: 4pm – 6pm) Christmas vs Chanukah Williamsburg Holiday Bar Crawl Shmaltz partners with friends at Sly Fox Brewery for an epic afternoon pub crawl.

About Shmaltz Brewing

Founder and owner Jeremy Cowan established Shmaltz Brewing in San Francisco in 1996. The first 100 cases of He’brew Beer® were hand-bottled and delivered throughout the Bay Area from the back of his Grandmother’s Volvo. Shmaltz Brewing now sells He’brew Beer across 35 states, through 40 wholesalers and in nearly 5,000 retailers.

After 17 years of being an outspoken cheerleader for contract brewing, Cowan and staff opened their own New York State production brewery in 2013 in Clifton Park, 10 minutes north of Albany. Shmaltz’s home boasts a 50-barrel brewhouse with 30,000 barrels of annual capacity and packages a diverse and tasty variety of core and seasonal favorites in 12 and 22-ounce bottles and kegs. The Shmaltz Tasting Room is open five days a week (Wed-Sun) and offers tours, barrel-aged previews, beer-to-go, and special releases.

RateBeer.com ranked Shmaltz as one of the “Top 100 Brewers in the World” in 2013, and the brewery brought home 9 gold and 5 silver medals from the World Beer Championships in the past several years.

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Small Brewer Saturday: Businesses Supporting Craft Beer

Even though they only represent a sliver of the overall beer market (11% in 2014), small and independent brewers are big business. The craft brewing continues to flourish, hundreds of supporting businesses have emerged to help the industry beat the odds.

In celebration of Small Business Saturday, here are three industries that have brought support and personality to the brewing industry.

1. Mobile Canning

It is an uphill battle for many small brewers to get their beers into the hands of consumers. Access to market is tough enough, but for many, packaging prices can derail plans to expand beyond kegs.

“Craft is still a very small purchaser of cans even within beer (~2% of the total canned beer market, compared to closer to ~20% of the bottled beer market and ~35% of the hop market),” writes Dr. Bart Watson of the Brewers Association. “When placed in the context of the overall beverage market (including soft drinks, etc.), craft brewers influence shrinks even further. Unlike a raw material like hops, beer producers also compete for access to cans with other beverage producers.”

With a lack of buying power in cans, the mere quantity minimums often price many small brewers out. But, increased demand for canned craft beer has led to a creative business model: mobile canning.

Mobile canning has been around for some time now, but their businesses continue to evolve to meet brewers changing demands. At first, the service allowed for small runs of cans for start-up brewers without the capital for a canning line to package their beer. Today, many mobile canners like Longmont, Colorado’s Mobile Canning Systems have taken on more than just getting fresh beer in aluminum.

The company not only purchases cans in bulk to be shared between multiple brewery clients, they also store them along with heat shrinking labels for hundreds of brands they can. Mobile Canning houses the cans because the amount that most brewers would need to buy not only is an incredibly large investment, but also the space needed to store the cans dwarfs many brewery operations. Mobile Canning Systems offers breweries the opportunity to have an important type of packaging without having to invest money and space into the process.

2. Craft Maltsters

For their comparatively diminutive size, craft brewers use a lot of raw materials to make their beers. Each of the 4,000 plus breweries in the U.S. today are working hard to create signature beers, and ingredients are one of the most obvious ways to create a unique beer that differentiates you from the brewery down the street.

So why doesn’t malt have the star power that hops do? One reason may be that the vast majority of advances in malting have focused on yield, consistency and pest resistance. These are all important, but they do little to build up malt as a distinguishing flavor trait.

As we continue to see many brewers bringing ingredient procurement back to their local market, many have chosen to seek local maltsters. Local malt flavors are unique to each area, providing brewers with another subtle way to differentiate themselves.

“Following in the footsteps of craft beer, the scale is tiny in comparison to the industry,” writes the Craft Maltsters Guild, an organization supporting these new businesses. This emerging industry of the craft maltster is presenting new opportunities for both local family farms and craft brewers.”

The guild lists craft maltsters in more than a dozen states for craft brewers to work with and learn about their malt.

3. Beer Education

You can spend a lifetime learning about beer and still never know it all, but a greater understanding of the beverage and how to serve it benefits everyone. Craft beer has become such an impactful business category that accredited universities and colleges have added brewing and beer business programs to their curriculum. CraftBeer.com’s Beer Schools lists many options for both online and in-person craft beer education.

Whether it’s safety information for professional brewers or draught line basics for bar owners and distributors, the Brewers Association has tons of resources for the beer-related businesses. Meanwhile, CraftBeer.com is a great place to start for beer beginners. Explore the Beer Styles section or check out our Beer 101 course for a great overview on ingredients and the brewing process.

Despite the successes, craft breweries still face many hurdles in the overall beer world. Access to market, ingredients and consumer and trade education all help to lessen the impact of these hurdles. These industries are just a part of the allied craft beer community that have found their niche to help the cause.

Find a Brewery to visit this Small Business Saturday (11/28)!

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Meet the Four Headed Wooly Mammoth from Southern Tier Brewing

Southern Tier Brewing Co. announced today that beginning January 2016 it will release Four Headed Wooly Mammoth, a Belgian Style Quad Ale as its first beer in the Cellar Vault Series.

Four Headed Wooly Mammoth, a massive 11% ABV Belgian Quad, is brewed with Dark Belgian Candi Syrup (Kandijstroop Donker) in the boil, which provides notes of anise, dark chocolate, caramel & toasted bread. Candi Syrup, a traditional brewing ingredient in Belgium, also adds a dark hue and a complex Belgian character to the brew, which is fermented with Belgian Abbey Yeast. Having taken more than a dozen trips to Belgium, Sean Lavery, VP of Operations, yearned to brew one of the “treat” beers that he enjoys during his travels. This brilliant garnet-red beer is true to style with its warming 11% ABV, which is balanced perfectly with caramel, dark sugar & malty sweet flavors.

Quality Manager, Matt Dunn describes the Quad as a “big, bad brew in both alcohol content and flavor,” which is how the Cellar Vault Team came up with the beer’s unique title. “We wanted to brew something that we didn’t already make; something huge and unique. We wanted something we’d crave after our shifts. This Belgian behemoth checked all of those boxes, so we were psyched to get to work on it,” notes Lead Creative Brewer, Jason Hitchcock.

The Cellar Vault Series is described as “VERY rare.” CEO John Coleman states that these brands will be “very limited release and allocated to select markets on draught-only.” Also noting “They’re brewed in our 30bbl Pilot Brewhouse, by our Cellar Vault Team because we believe that ‘Craft is the Endless Pursuit of Creativity.’”

 

ABOUT THE CELLAR VAULT SERIES

The Cellar Vault Series concept was born out of a challenge from Southern Tier founder, Phin DeMink. Brewing, Cellar and Quality teams submitted recipe ideas for limited-edition, well aging beers they wanted to brew. In addition to Phin, the Cellar Vault’s first team includes Quality Manager Matt Dunn, Quality Lead Karen Stangl, VP of Operations Sean Lavery, Lead Creative Brewer Jason Hitchcock & Brewer Geoff Burgess. They’ll be producing five limited-release beers over the next 9-12 months and then handing the reigns to the next team. Their first beer: the Four Headed Wooly Mammoth. Their next beer: a Sour Ale brewed with Riesling grape juice.

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Cyber Monday Beer

MobCraft Launches Cyber Monday Beer

Barrel Aged Russian Imperial Stout On Cherries

Wisconsin Brewer MobCraft Beer is launching a Cyber Monday exclusive beer only available online Monday, November 30th! Check it out at http://ift.tt/1Ndp541

Cyber Monday is a smooth, full bodied, black as night stout with plenty of bourbon on the nose and hints of tart cherry. It’s heavy mouthfeel leads into distinct flavors of whisky and cherry that ends with a nice long toasty finish. This Russian Imperial Stout with cherries was aged for 10 months in 12 year bourbon barrels.

The Cyber Monday Beer Sale starts at 12:00am Monday 11/30/2015 and run until this limited batch sells out. Beer can be ordered for pickup at the brewery or shipped to your door through an online liquor store.  Just for Cyber Monday, the beer is 33% off retail price!

“We’re all about doing things different here at MobCraft. We brew a new beer every month voted on by our fans, so when it came time to launch a barrel aged stout we thought, hell yeah, it should be a cyber monday beer” – Henry Schwartz President MobCraft.  

About MobCraft:
MobCraft Beer is the world’s first crowdsourced brewery. Each month, visitors to MobCraftBeer.com submit their ideas for a new craft beer. The best ideas with recipes are posted on the website to solicit online pre-orders. The beer with the most pre-orders is then produced and made available for delivery or pickup at the brewery in Madison, WI.

“We’re on monthly batch 26 right now! It has been a blast brewing off the wall ideas of the crowd, we’ve made everything from No Stout About It – Jalapeno Stout to Night & Day – Vanilla Black IPA, to even a Durian Cashew Pilsner called Don Durio’s Filthy Mustachio!” – Andrew Gierczak MobCraft Head Brewer

 

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Happy Thanksgiving!

While we are thankful for great beer every day of the year, take an extra minute to be thankful for all the craft beer movement has given us. Without it, we would have no amazing seasonal brews, hop heavy behemoths, or just plain weird experimental barrel aged what-cha-ma-call-its. So as you gather with friends and/or family and crack open your favorite bottle, raise a toast and unlock this year’s “Beer-giving (2015)” badge. Simple check-in to any beer starting Thanksgiving day (November 26th) through Sunday, November 29th (local time) and it’s yours. Happy Thanksgiving to you all and cheers!

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12 Days of Homebrew Giveaways - via AHA

We’re getting in the holiday spirit here at the American Homebrewers Association by giving away a different homebrew-related gift everyday… for 12 days!

What You Need to Know:

• The contest runs November 30th – December 11th. A new prize is given away each day!
• Entry will be done via Facebook & Twitter. If you don’t have a Facebook and/or Twitter accounts, now’s the time to get one!
• Winners will be notified via social media direct message. Keep an eye on those inboxes!
• Visit our Facebook & Twitter pages on Monday, November 30th, for more details on how to enter.

Note: The full giveaway rules will be available on November 30th when the first prize is revealed.

 

 

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Rogue Chocolate Stout Clone - via AHA

To brew the Rogue Chocolate Stout clone homebrew recipe, mash at 150°F (65°C) for 60 minutes. Sparge at 175°F (79°C) to collect 6.5 gallons (24.6 L) of pre-boiled wort. Boil for 90 minutes. Cool to 60°F (16°C) and pitch yeast.

Ferment at 60°F (16°C) for one week. Siphon into secondary at 50-55°F (10-13°C) onto chocolate extract and hold until fermentation is complete, then package and condition.

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DIY Trash Can Kegerator - via AHA

Josh Becker, an Illinois-based homebrewer, has created a unique tradition with his brother and best friend. The three share birthdays within weeks of each other, and every year they through a Birthday Trifecta bash, and, of course, there is homebrew.

Becker used to dismantle his 10-gallon mash tun so he could fill it with ice and immerse the keg to keep it cool while serving homebrew at the annual birthday bash and other events. This worked well, but constantly dismantling and rebuilding his homebrew equipment was enough to have him searching for a new solution. After seeing a trash can converted into a kegerator at a wedding, he decided to take the concept and make it work for a homebrew keg setup. This was the beginning of Becker’s Trash Can Kegerator.

How to Build a Trash Can Kegerator

Becker’s goal was to create something to serve kegged homebrew that was easy to transport and inexpensive. You may have some of the following tools and materials on hand, which will make the project even cheaper!

Materials

• 32-gallon plastic trash can
• One stained piece of scrap wood*
• Beer lines
• Keg shanks, connects and taps
• Optional: mountable bottle opener

Tools

• Large drill bit and drill
• Saw*
• Wrench
• Screwdriver

*The size of the piece of the wood will depend on the size of the trash can. A saw may be needed to cut wood to size.

Instructions

The entire process of building the trash can kegerator took Becker under two hours. Basically, a piece of wood is mounted on the front of the plastic trash can, which will hold the mounted keg faucets. The keg is set up inside the trash can, along with the CO₂ tank, and ice is added to keep everything cool. That’s it! Here are the steps:

1. Ensure the piece of wood being used is the size you want to be on the front of the trash can. Cut it to size, if necessary. Stain wood if desired.
2. Using the appropriate sized drill bit, drill holes through the wood piece where the keg shanks will be mounted.
3. Using the piece of wood that has been drilled as a guide, mark where the holes should be drilled on the trash can. Drill holes through the trash can.
4. Fit the shanks through the wood and trash can. No glue or mounting of the wood is necessary since the washer of the shanks will hold everything secure.
5. Optional: add a mountable bottle opener onto the piece of wood.
6. Hook up all the beer and gas lines. Make adjustments to prevent foaming, if necessary.
7. Place the keg in the trash can and surround with ice.
8. Pull the faucet and watch delicious homebrew come from your DIY trash can kegerator!

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Experimental Hop HBC 438 Hitting Shelves Soon - via AHA

HBC 438 hop pellets are more than just a means to create the next exciting home brew. They are an opportunity for home brewers to test a new hop variety and provide feedback before it’s sold on a larger scale, as well as a way for home brewers to support a very worthy cause. – YCHhops.com

HBC 438 is a new hop variety available to homebrewers that was revealed during the 2015 National Homebrewers Conference in San Diego, California. We recently had Stan Hieronymus (Author of For the Love of Hops) discuss the new hop variety on HomebrewersAssociation.org.

For more details on HBC 438 and its release, visit YCHhops.com.

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Natty Greene’s Brewing Co. Releases Silo Series Colony 9 Coffee Stout

Greensboro, NC – Bring in the cold chilly months of December with Natty Greene’s final Silo Series release, Colony 9 Coffee Stout. Colony 9 gets it’s name from Natty Greene’s home state of North Carolina, which was the ninth British colony. Colony 9 has an ABV of 5.5%, an IBU of 32 and a SRM of 50.

The final Silo Series of 2016 is brewed with chocolate, roasted barley, and caramel malts and infused with a healthy does of Sumatra coffee from Carolina Coffee Roasters. Just in time for the Holidays, Colony 9 Coffee Stout is the perfect brew for the annual family oyster roast or a cozy night by the fire with friends.

Natty Greene’s Silo Series Colony 9 Coffee Stout is available on draft at Natty Greene’s Brewhouse and Bunker Tasting Room, as well as at select bars and restaurants through out Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina.

For more information about Silo Series Smoky Mountain Porter, visit http://ift.tt/1PNklV8.

 

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About Natty Greene’s Silo Series –

The Silo Series was created to give beer fanatics the opportunity to taste different aspects of Natty Greene’s beer portfolio. Before 2014, the Silo Series was not released outside of Natty Greene’s brewhouse and tasting room. Now, in 2015, Natty Greene’s has released the Silo Series for the second year into select bars and restaurants across North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia. The Silo Series ranges from India pale ales to stouts.

To have a Silo Series draft-only brew on tap at your establishment, contact Natty Greene’s at general@nattygreenes.com

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New Belgium Shares Tips for Pairing Sour Beers with Thanksgiving Dinner

If you’re breaking out the sours this Thanksgiving, New Belgium Brewning Co. (NBB) has some tips. NBB suggests to look for contrast when pairing sour beers with food, rather than trying to match the beers with similarly sour or tart foods like salad dressings or greens.

“The fun thing to do with sour beers is contrast,” said Lauren Salazar, NBB wood cellar and specialty brand manager. “Gamey cuts of meat. Confit. Rillettes. Pâté. Sour beers cut through the fattiness and highlight other flavors. My super fave is when there’s something on the side, like strawberry jam or cherry to bring out similar notes in the beer.”

Sour Beer Thanksgiving Pairings

La Folie

Dark turkey meat and stuffing. The convergence of gamey, fatty and salty perfectly contrasts La Folie’s fruity, sour snap. Also: sweet potatoes doused in butter.

Le Terroir

The dry-hopped wild ale’s sweet tropical fruits and sour bite play perfectly with pineapple-glazed ham and a side of candied yams. The salt, sour, fruit and sweetness all balances out. Also: Ambrosia with whipped cream, coconut and green Jello.

Check out NBB’s Thanksgiving blog series for tips on pairing other styles with your favorite Thanksgiving dishes.

While you’re in the pairing mood, check out CraftBeer.com’s new Beer and Food Pairing Chart to help you plan your Thanksgiving Day pairings like a pro!

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Collaboration Fest Returns For Its Third Year on March 19th

Tickets on go sale November 24 to America’s most creative beer festival

DENVER – Nov. 23, 2015 – Representing the most creative minds in the craft beer industry, the third annual Collaboration Fest will bring brewers from around the world together to brew one-time-only beers. Collaboration Fest will take place on Saturday, March 19, 2016 at Sports Authority Field at Mile High (1701 Bryant St. Denver CO 80204), and serves as the official  kick-off to Colorado Craft Beer Week.

“Each Collaboration beer is created as a fusion of two or more brewery personalities,” said PJ Hoberman of Imbibe Events. “The recipe formulation is then developed through multiple meetings and email chains. All parties then join forces to brew and put the final touches of the project together. The one thing in common between all of the Collaboration beers is that at least one CBG brewery is involved.”

Imbibe Events and the Colorado Brewers Guild (CBG) hosted the first Collaboration Fest in March 2014. Collaboration gives brewers the opportunity to brew with people they respect, create a narrative behind the beer, and make a beer that they normally would not. Each beer is created with a unique background story, often illustrating the relationships between the brewers themselves. Leading up to the festival Imbibe and the CBG will be sharing these stories via multiple platforms.

The 2016 Collaboration Fest will feature 75 collaborative brews. The current list of collaborations include:

300 Suns Brewing and Gemini Beer Co

Avery Brewing Co and Call To Arms Brewing Company

Baere Brewing Company and Mother Road Brewing Company

Baere Brewing Company, Mockery Brewing and Inland Island Brewing and Consulting

Barrels & Bottles Brewery and AC Golden Brewing Company

Beryl’s Beer Co and Goose Island Beer Co

Big Choice Brewing and Black Bottle Brewing

Blue Spruce Brewing Co and Rock Bottom, South Denver

Boulder Beer Co. and Fat Heads Brewery

Breckenridge Brewery and Star Hill Brewery

Call to Arms Brewing Company, Denizens Brewing Co and Conshohocken Brewing Co.

Cannonball Creek Brewing Company and Pizza Pizza Port Carlsbad Village

CO-Brew and Mu Brewing

Comrade Brewing Company and Fat Heads Brewery

Crazy Mountain Brewing Company and Stillwater Artisan Ales

Crooked Stave Artisan Beer Project and Evil Twin Brewing

Denver Beer Co and DC Brau Brewing Company

Denver Beer Co and Spangalang Brewery

Diebolt Brewing Company and River North Brewery

Epic Brewing Company and Green Flash Brewing Co

Factotum Brewhouse and Tow Yard Brewing

FATE Brewing Company and Reuben’s Brews

Fort Collins Brewery and Renegade Brewing Company

Funkwerks and Wicked Weed Brewing

Gravity Brewing and Marshall Brewing

Great Divide Brewing Co and TRVE Brewing

Grist Brewing Company and Koala San Brew

Hall Brewing and Kokopelli Beer Company

Holidaily Brewing Company and Yak and Yeti Brewpub

Horse & Dragon Brewing Company and others

Jagged Mountain Craft Brewery and Brewery Rickoli

Jagged Mountain Craft Brewery and Uber Brew

Joyride Brewing Company and Heretic Brewing Company

Kannah Creek Brewing Company and Moab Brewery

Kannah Creek Brewing Company, Roaring Fork Beer Company and Colorado Boy Brewing

Left Hand Brewing Company and Wibby Brewing

Liquid Mechanics and Bagby Beer

Liquid Mechanics and Odd 13 Brewing

Little Machine and Joyride Brewing Co

Living The Dream Brewing and Grist Brewing

Living The Dream Brewing and Rip Current Brewing

Locavore and Tommyknocker Brewery

Lone Tree Brewing Company and Chain Reaction

Lone Tree Brewing Company and Sycamore Brewing Company

Mockery Brewing and Saucony Creek

Mockery Brewing and Baere Brewing

Oskar Blues Brewery, 3 Floyds Brewing and Horse and Dragon Brewing Company

Our Mutual Friend Brewing and Cerebral Brewing

Platt Park Brewing Co., Moody Tongue and Old Redwood

Post Brewing Company and Prost Brewing Company

Prost Brewing Company and Dogfish Head Brewing

Sanitas Brewing Company and SixPoint Brewery

Sanitas Brewing Company, BRU handbuilt ales & eats and Wild Woods Brewery

Shamrock Brewing Company and Fitger’s Brewhoue

Ska Brewing Company and Devils Backbone Brewing Company

Ska Brewing Company and Epic Brewing

Station 26 Brewing Co, Cannonball Creek Brewing Company and Comrade Brewing

Steamworks Brewing Company and Dry Dock Brewing Co

Strange Craft Beer Company and Freetail Brewing Company

Telluride Brewing Company and Elevation Brewing Company

Telluride Brewing Company and NYNÄSHAMNS ÅNGBRYGGERI AB

The Bakers’ Brewery, Broken Compass, Dillon DAM Brewery, JP Vander Veen, Pug Ryan’s Brewery, Breckenridge Brewery OG and Angry James Brewing

Tomyknocker Brewery and Mallaskosken Panimo

TRVE Brewing and Prairie Artisan Ales

Twisted Pine Brewing Co and Blind Tiger Brewery

Twisted Pine Brewing Co and Pizza Port – Solana Beach

Two22 Brew and Echo Brewing Company

Wibby Brewing and Left Hand Brewing Company

Wit’s End Brewing Company and Ale-Mania

Wonderland Brewing Company and C Squared Ciders

Zwei Brewing Co and Bierstadt

“This festival truly shows what it means to work in a cooperative industry,” said Steve Kurowski of the CBG. “By working together, craft brewers are able to make the biggest economic impact on the beer industry. Craft beer is currently a $1.15 billion dollar industry for the state of Colorado. By continuing to work together and learn from each other, this number will continue to increase.”

As the capital of the state of craft beer, Denver is proud to be the hometown of Collaboration Fest. From the pioneers and miners in the late-1800s to Wynkoop Brewing Co. – Denver’s first brewery, owned by now-Governor John Hickenlooper – The Mile High City has a deeply-rooted history with beer, and it is quickly becoming the heart of the craft beer movement. Today, there are more than 50 operating breweries in the city, with more in planning, that create an exceptional craft beer scene.

Tickets can be purchased starting Tuesday, November 24 at 10 a.m. MST at CollaborationFest.com.

Press Credentials

Media wishing to receive press credentials for Collaboration Fest must fill out an application form.

About Imbibe Events

Imbibe is a Denver-based event production and ticketing company that coordinates with the best restaurants, bars, music venues, and other fine establishments to create craft events! Imbibe produces events such as the Denver Flea, Denver Beer Festivus and the Big Eat. For more information, visit http://ift.tt/1r0Gi6X.

About the Colorado Brewers Guild

The Colorado Brewers Guild (CBG) is a non-profit trade association promoting the Colorado craft brewing industry. With the majority of the 305 licensed Colorado breweries as members, CBG provides information for Colorado beer lovers, and promotes Colorado craft breweries by advocating for Colorado craft beer with policymakers. For more information, visit www.coloradobeer.org.

The post Collaboration Fest Returns For Its Third Year on March 19th appeared first on CraftBeer.com.

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Stochasticity Project Grainiac Releases Today

ESCONDIDO, CA (Nov. 23, 2015) – The latest release from the Stochasticity Project incorporates newly developed forms of grain yet to be widely used in the brewing world. Malted buckwheat and malted millet were included in the grain bill to create this deep-red, hoppy ale with a unique malt character. Making its debut beginning this week, Stochasticity Project Grainiac will start arriving in 22-ounce bottles and on draft at select retailers nationwide.

Upping the hop factor is common practice for West Coast-based craft breweries, but this beer transpired from a different search, one that eventually led to a small malting facility in Wellington, Colorado. Here, Stone Brewmaster Mitch Steele came in contact with Grouse Malting and Roasting Company.

“Earlier this year, we learned about Grouse Malting and their innovative take on these malted grains,” said Steele. “After exploring their unique offerings, we realized that the Stochasticity Project would be the perfect avenue to incorporate them into a recipe.”

With a malt bill composed of seven grains—2-row pale malt, malted buckwheat, malted millet, white wheat malt, CaraRye, flaked oats and flaked triticale—there are distinct nutty and cereal-like malt qualities in the flavor and aroma. Columbus, Chinook, Centennial and Cascade hops (aka the “4 C’s”) were added to balance out the intense malt backbone, resulting in a blend of spice, citrus and pine flavors.

After brainstorming concepts and deciding on the final recipe, what came about next for this multigrain ale was highly unexpected. But then again, that should be expected from the Stochasticity Project, a series of beers intended for exotic notions, ingredients and ideas. A daring, slightly controversial name was proposed by the brewing team that references the title of a Saturday Night Live commercial parody, “Colon Blow.” Stone CEO Greg Koch shut it down. Hard. More names were floated. For a while it was Multigrains of Truth. Then Let It Grain. Someone on the sales team spoke up: “But we LIKE the name Colon Blow. It’s…hilarious!” Since they would be the ones selling it, Greg gave in.

Ultimately, the federal government nixed the name when it was submitted for approval, citing a perceived suggestion of health benefits. Um, OK. Plan B then: Grainiac.

This one-time limited release should be enjoyed fresh in order to fully experience the generous dose of hop character. The story of Stochasticity Project Colon B…errr…Grainiac will live on inside the brewery’s halls and on the back of every bottle.

BEER DATA & VITAL STATISTICS
Stochasticity Project Grainiac
Name: Stochasticity Project Grainiac
URL: http://ift.tt/1LxW4ud
Alcohol/Volume: 8.5%
Bitterness: 60 IBUs
Hops: Columbus, Chinook, Centennial, Cascade
Malts: 2-row pale malt, malted buckwheat, malted crystal millet, malted roast millet, white wheat malt, CaraRye, flaked oats, flaked triticale
U.S. Distribution: AK, AL, AZ, CA, CO, CT, DC, DE, FL, GA, HI, IA, ID, IL, IN, KS, KY, LA, MA, MD, ME, MI, MN, MO, MT, NC, NE, NH, NJ, NM, NV, NY, OH, OR, PA, RI, SC, TN, TX, VA, VT, WA and Puerto Rico
International Distribution: Australia; Alberta and British Columbia, Canada; Japan; Korea; Singapore; Sweden; Thailand; and United Kingdom
Find Beer: http://ift.tt/1LxW4uh

Tasting Notes, by Brewmaster Mitch Steele
Appearance: Deep amber with a light-tan head.
Aroma: Aroma starts off with a nutty, spice note from the malts, then slowly evolves into a citrus and resin hop character
Taste: Nice blend of maltiness and hoppiness. Unique nutty and cereal-like malt flavors at the start, then the hops come through with a classic American Amber Ale hop profile, with elements of citrus, pine, and hop resin.
Palate: Full bodied (not sweet) and smooth with a lingering bitterness.
Overall: This beer gave us a neat opportunity to use some grains we had never used before in brewing a beer. We recently learned of Grouse Malting and Roasting Company in Colorado, and as I explored its website and catalog of malted grains, I realized that our Stochasticity Project series would be a perfect place for experimenting with these. We combined malted millet and malted buckwheat from Grouse with barley malt, rye malt, wheat malt, oats and triticale to make a true multigrain ale. Hopped with the classic “4 C’s” this beer is reminiscent of many amber ales I have brewed over the years, but with a slight twist on the malt character.

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The Craft Brewers of Wine Country

There’s no corner of the U.S. more synonymous with wine than Northern California, particularly the Napa Valley. It’s a proverbial mecca for wine aficionados, a destination to visit at least once in their lives. So naturally I was surprised when someone asked if I had heard about the region’s craft beer scene.

“Is that a thing?” I ignorantly asked.

Yes, it turns out wine country makes for a perfect setting to brew craft beer. In fact, wine-makers rely on it. On several occasions during my recent travels through the region from San Francisco to Napa and Santa Rosa, I heard the motto: It takes good beer to make good wine.

“When you’re doing harvest, working 14 hours a day, you don’t get off the clock and pull out a Cabernet and have a glass of wine,” explained Ryan Gibbons of Mare Island Brewing Co. “You open a nice cold beer and enjoy that.”

Given California’s infamous traffic and my general distaste for all things automobile, I opted to explore the region car-free. Besides, what kind of beer journalist would I be if I cut myself off after one beer because I had to operate heavy machinery?

The Craft Beer Phenomenon

Having booked the “craft beer package” at downtown San Francisco’s Hotel Triton, when I entered my room I was greeted with an ice bucket displaying three Big Daddy IPAs from local Speakeasy Ales & Lagers.

Good start, I thought.

First I walked south to Dirty Water in the Twitter building to meet with Kristian Cosentino, who recently contracted John Montes de Oca and Vicki Tisdale of Mujicians Brewing Co. to become Dirty Water’s brewers-in-residence. Montes de Oca and Tisdale met a decade ago at band camp and started homebrewing together after graduating from the University of Southern California. Over the years, their hobby became a professional passion complete with Mujicians branding.

The group hopes to start serving Mujicians’ largely German-inspired brews out of Dirty Water in the coming weeks if not already by the time this story publishes.

“Wine people are turning towards beer,” noted Cosentino on the uptick of beer culture in wine country. “It’s a phenomenon now.”

Later in the day I met with Ron Silberstein of ThirstyBear Brewing Co., San Francisco’s oldest brewpub. The former immigration attorney greeted me with a cheek-to-cheek grin. I could hear a constant sense of excitement and pride in his voice.

“We’re the only certified organic beer in San Francisco,” he boasted early on — sustainability being an important philosophy at the nearly 20-year-old brewery. “We can serve a beer that’s fresh. [The beer] hasn’t traveled and we serve it right here, the only place you can get it.”

Silberstein was also proud of pairing his beer with Spanish cuisine, a move inspired by his time traveling in Spain. We’re talking tapas and paella, which I can’t recall finding at a brewpub before. The unique combination certainly made ThirstyBear stand out as a fantastic entry point to exploring craft beer in wine country.

Record-Skip mMoment

The next morning I boarded a ferry for a 40-minute cruise across the bay to Vallejo, where I was greeted by Mare Island’s Ryan Gibbons. Pulling into the terminal, you wouldn’t think you were in wine country. Heavy machinery surrounds the port-like grape vines on a vineyard, relics of the area’s time as a naval shipyard.

Gibbons’ journey to brewing might seem unusual elsewhere in the country but is typical of brewers in wine country. After leaving college to “find his own way” in California, Gibbons got involved in winemaking and spent several seasons “chasing harvest” in New Zealand and Europe. But when he returned to California and found his passion for winemaking fading, he started to gravitate toward craft beer.

While waiting tables, Gibbons fell in love with the consumer side of craft beer, seeing beer drinkers as a more relatable clientele than the wine crowd. He traded in his apron and corkscrew for a big burly beard and ball cap and convinced the brewing team at Lagunitas to give a winemaker a chance at what ultimately boils down to a similar craft.

The seed of Mare Island Brewing Co. was planted six months later when Gibbons mentioned his new line of work to Kent Fortner, his current business partner.

“It’s that record-skip moment,” Gibbons recalled. “You saw his eyes just start going crazy.”

Mare Island has since carved out a little niche of beer territory in wine country and is enticing more and more San Franciscans and out-of-town visitors to cross the bay.

“There’s nothing wrong with drinking and ferrying,” Gibbons joked.

Putting the “Craft” Back into Craft Beer

From Vallejo, the Napa VINE bus took me into the heart of the valley. Most who travel those roads come for the rolling hills of vineyards, but I was there to explore some of the breweries that have sprouted up in town, like Downtown Joe’s and the Napa Palisades Saloon.

At the latter, I met managing partner Charlie Crebs for drinks and dinner. With high-definition TVs running baseball playoff games and buffalo wings on the menu, the Saloon was as close to a sports bar as one will find in Napa. That said, careful attention is paid to keeping everything local. The tables and bars are made of 100-year-old redwoods that had sunk into the nearby Napa River, and the steel used in construction came from Kaiser Steel, where Crebs’ grandfather once worked.

Crebs’ story parallels Gibbons’ with eerie similarity—they even worked together at a restaurant just down the street from where the Saloon is today. Crebs, however, has made his niche in building a following in the heart of wine country and blending that culture into his beer, for instance by aging certain beers in wine barrels.

“It’s great for adventurous drinkers who like sours,” he noted. “We’re definitely seeing those sales grow more and more with those collaborations.”

While wine tasting remains as popular as ever in Napa, Crebs increasingly sees travelers who are thankful to sit down with a craft beer at the end of the day.

“They say, ‘I’ve been tasting wine all day, all I want is a beer,’” he explained. “It’s a palate cleanser before more wine at dinner.”

Also renowned in the area is the more traditional Napa Smith Brewery, as well as Mad Fritz Beer—perhaps the most wine-inspired craft brewery I’ve come across. The bottles themselves look like wine and the beers are always served in wine glasses, which makes sense considering that it’s owned by Nile Zacherle and Whitney Fischer, who also run two wineries.

While stuffing ourselves with sushi at Morimoto Napa and sampling Mad Fritz’s brews, Zacherle told me that he aims to put the craft back into the “innocuous” phrase ‘craft beer.’ Besides the obvious nods to wine culture in Mad Fitz’s branding, Zacherle puts his focus on the ingredients. Mad Fritz exclusively uses 100 percent craft malt. Simply put, Zacherle knows where his ingredients are coming from and knows the farmer attached to them. The back of every Mad Fritz bottle even explains where each of the beer’s ingredients was sourced.

“Of course it costs more, but you’re supporting all these small farmers, and it allows them to grow their business,” Zacherle explained. “It’s not a volume thing. It’s a quality thing.”

The Jewel of Santa Rosa

Another day, another transfer. I boarded the Napa VINE bus once more for a final stop in Northern California wine country— Santa Rosa. For many in the region, this is the town truly synonymous with craft beer in wine country.

Frieda Lewis of ACE IT! Tours took me out on a Sonoma Bike and Brew ride to connect two of the area’s more popular breweries. Following the Joe Rodota Trail west under a clear blue sky to Sebastopol, we arrived around noon at HopMonk Tavern. The weather and the timing were perfect for sharing a flight in the tavern’s Bier Garten, designed just like they are in Germany.

Our return ride took us into downtown Santa Rosa, where a line snaked away from the door of Russian River Brewing Co. A security guard stood watch, complete with an earpiece.

Is this a brewery, or a rave? I wondered.

Turns out Russian River prefers to have waiting patrons stand outside rather than breathing down the necks of seated guests, avoiding the uncomfortable scenario where any standing room by the bar turns into a mosh pit of thirsty, elbow-throwing strangers. Instead, the dining area and bar were comfortably at capacity.

Russian River is the jewel of Santa Rosa. Over a Saison Blonde and barbecue chicken pizza, Lewis shared stories of people waiting for six hours just to be one of the first to taste a new release.

Wine in Beer Country?

At journey’s end, I boarded Golden Gate Transit for my return to San Francisco. Though I’d been surprised to first hear of a nascent craft beer scene in wine country, I left realizing I had only scratched the surface.

If you find yourself flying into Oakland on your way to wine country, check out Golden Gate Brewing Co., Oakland Brewing Co., Pacific Coast Brewing Co. and Woods Bar & Brewery—to name just a few. You might also opt to continue east for the breweries of the Tri-Valley, like Eight Bridges Brewing and Working Man Brewing Co.

Considering the sheer quantity of breweries in the region, one has to wonder: At what point do we start saying there’s a bit of wine in beer country?

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Mark Your Calendars! Craft Brewers Conference Registration Opens December 3 - Via Brewers Association

Registration for the 2016 Craft Brewers Conference (CBC) & BrewExpo America® opens Thursday, December 3. The conference will take place May 3-6 at the Philadelphia Convention Center. The Craft Brewers Conference is the only industry event that serves both brewpubs and packaging breweries. For professional brewers, CBC is the number one environment in North America for concentrated, affordable brewing […]

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Tuesday Beer Trivia: Mythology & Tales - via AHA

5 Beer-y Thanksgiving Side Dishes that Totally Outshine Turkey

I have a confession to make. I don’t really like turkey—there, I said it. Some may consider it a Thanksgiving sin, but I build my whole plate (plates—let’s be honest) around the side dishes at the table. I think these dishes really steal the show, and it doesn’t hurt that they’re often starch-based (#amen).

Don’t get me wrong, turkey is OK. But, I think it’s best enjoyed in my post Thanksgiving leftover turkey sandwich creation: white bread, turkey, a little cornbread dressing, lima beans, mayo and lots of black pepper (don’t knock it till you try it!).

To celebrate my obsession, here’s a roundup of a few of my favorite Thanksgiving side dishes made with craft beer that are the perfect addition to your holiday table. In addition to beer, most of these recipes also include bacon, because hey, it can never hurt, right?

Seriously, the sweet potatoes with maple smoked bacon and beer will change your life. I make them all time!

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Beer Professionals Share Their Homebrewing Secrets - via AHA

“Keep it simple, Grashopper” – Brock Wagner, Founder & Brewer at Saint Arnold Brewing Co.

CraftBrewingBusiness.com reached out to beer industry professionals, including American Homebrewers Association Director Gary Glass, to compile tips and secrets to help homebrewers make great beer at home.

Read the full article CBB’s Annual Thanksgiving Special: Craft professionals share their homebrewing secrets on CraftBrewingBusiness.com.

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Orchestra Software Hosts 4th Annual User Conference- Orchestrate 2015

PORTLAND, Ore. (November 20, 2015) — Orchestra Software recently hosted its fourth annual user conference, Orchestrate 2015, in Portland, Oregon. Orchestrate is the annual user conference event for OrchestratedBEER and OrchestratedSPIRITS software users to discover how to better utilize new and existing software features as well as network with fellow users.

The focus for Orchestrate 2015 was helping craft beverage manufacturers get to the next level of evolution as a business during rapid industry expansion.

Orchestra Software President, Brad Windecker kicked off the conference with a thought-provoking keynote highlighting the growth and change in the craft beverage industry. Windecker challenged all breweries, distilleries and craft beverage manufacturers to change the overall thought process to accommodate long-term growth.

“Growth requires a change in thinking”, said Windecker. “The industry is changing rapidly all around us with constant growth and consolidation. If you don’t adjust your thinking to focus on long-term growth, you will continue to encounter chaos and confusion with each stage of growth.”

Windecker went on to define how Orchestra Software’s mission to solve the challenges of growing craft beverage manufacturers is entwined with customer-first values.

“Orchestra’s values permeate everything we do, from our product road map to the way we handle support calls.” said Windecker. “Nothing is more important than having great people at Orchestra who care deeply for our customers and their long term success.”

Aside from the main keynotes, Orchestrate 2015 also featured more than 40 breakout sessions related to the business of craft beer and spirits. Customer-led sessions allowed users to share first-hand experiences handling real-world brewing and distilling scenarios using Orchestrated.

A highlight for Orchestrate attendees was the increased variety of sponsored speaking sessions coinciding with the debut of the Orchestrate partner exhibitor hall. The emphasis on partnerships at Orchestrate 2015 provided opportunities for attendees to connect with partner representatives and explore solutions that perfectly complement the Orchestrated platform.

Orchestrate 2015 sponsors and speakers included Baker Tilly, Concur, Beverage Business Builders, HighJump, VIP, ProLeiT and ShipCompliant. Keynote sponsor speakers from the University of Portland introduced the latest partnership with OrchestratedBEER as part of its Master Strategist: Craft Beer Business.

The biggest takeaways for Orchestrate attendees were the actionable insights that came from learning, sharing knowledge and networking with other users.

“No other company cares more about the challenges facing craft beverage manufacturers than Orchestra.” added Windecker. “We’re working harder than ever to solve those challenges with simple, easy-to-use solutions.”

Orchestrate will continue to be centered on feedback, learning, growing the partner network and improving the overall Orchestrated user experience. The improvement trend will continue into Orchestrate 2016 with more sessions, bigger venues and more attendees as Orchestrated products continue to set the standard for business management software.

More about Orchestra Software
Located in Beaverton, Oregon, Orchestra Software is an enterprise software company that creates industry vertical solutions that are scalable for large companies, but affordable enough for small growing companies. Orchestra’s industry-specific software consolidates all company operations into a single application, providing unparalleled insight into the business, and creating opportunity for cost savings and increased profitability.

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How to Pair Thanksgiving Dinner with Homebrew - via AHA

Thanksgiving brings family and friends together to eat way too much food and celebrate all the things we’re thankful for, including great beer. It’s probably overwhelming and not realistic to have elaborate, coordinated beer pairings, especially considering the broad range of foods on the average Turkey Day plate. But, you can choose beer styles that work well with the majority of traditional holiday foods.

Not just any good beer will play nice with your Thanksgiving dinner. The always popular IPA doesn’t link up well with the sweet and earthy flavors from your bird or mashed potatoes. Fortunately for you, we’ve done some research, talked to experts and came up with some beer styles that you’ll be thankful for.

Beer Pairing Foundation

On your Thanksgiving plate, you’ll have some serious piles of food exhibiting all sorts of flavors, textures, temperatures and the like, which makes it difficult to pick one style for this meal. In general, you want to consider the beer and the food elements separately and find your flavor harmonies. Think about potential intersections between the food and beer and match the flavor intensities accordingly.

Many Thanksgiving dishes are prepared in the oven: turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, pies, casseroles, sweet potatoes, you get the point. Food cooked in the oven experiences browning and carmelization, just like some of those darker beers that come in amber and brown colored.

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Belgian Dubbel

The Belgian Dubbel is high in carbonation, malty and moderately strong. These beers lift the mouth-coating richness of gravy and mashed potatoes from the palate, helping prepare it for the next bite of food.

Flavor-wise, despite the style’s low alcohol warmth, it has a complex malt bill, accentuating raisin and dried fruit flavors, as well as clove-like spiciness that will help compliment the entire meal–especially cranberry sauce, sweet potatoes and turkey. It’s rich and complex without being too sweet–something you can enjoy thought the meal.

Homebrew Recipes	Description
Dubbel Your Pleasure	Home Brew Chef Sean Z. Paxton presents this delicious Belgian Dubbel recipe with alternative ingredient additions that will enhance the beer’s presence when used to cook or pair with various proteins.
Phil Keener’s Belgian Dubbel	An extract recipe for a Belgian Dubbel, Phil Keener of Ashland, Ohio, took home a gold medal at the 2009 National Homebrew Competition.
Dubbel Trouble	Medium-bodied with a malty sweetness and chocolate-like caramel aroma, this beer will taste sweet up front, but finish dry because of the layering of the specialty grains.

The Plate

• Butternut squash soup
• Baked turkey with stuffing
• Garlic mashed potatoes
• Green bean casserole

• Glazed carrots
• Cranberry sauce
• Homemade gravy
• Pumpkin pie

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American Brown Ale

American Brown Ale is always worth having on the Thanksgiving table. The browned malt flavors of caramel, chocolate, and toasty qualities work well with gravy’s browned flavors, dishes cooked in the oven and most cranberry sauces.

The style has a medium-dry finish providess a great balance to the hops and maltiness. Plus, the restrained hop profile of an American Brown Ale can tame the meal, lessening your palate fatigue–gotta keep your strength up for the big meal! Finally, the higher carbonation of this style helps cleanse the palate, allowing you to taste every bite.

Homebrew Recipes	Description
Buffalo Pass Brown Ale	Enjoy this delicious American Brown Ale next to a fire after a long day of skiing or any time you want some nice maltiness warming you from within.
Janet’s Brown Ale	Nutty, chocolate and toasty notes are what you’ll find in Mike McDole’s, Clayton, Calif., gold medal winning Brown Ale recipe from the 2009 National Homebrew Competition.
Big Brown Ale	Hoppy but balanced with the maltiness that comes from an American Brown Ale, you’ll enjoy Brian Linder, Tewksbury, Mass., gold medal recipe from the 2014 National Homebrew Competition.

The Plate

• Bacon appetizer (crackers, parm cheese, bacon wrapped)
• Deep fried turkey
• Southern cornbread stuffing
• Cranberry sauce

• Sweet corn bread pudding
• Sweet potatoes with pecans and maple syrup
• Southern pecan pie

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Belgian Golden Strong Ale

The Belgian Golden Strong Ale will pair well with your entire meal. The base malt is Pilsener malt, which has flavors reminiscent of graham crackers. The malt flavors work well with mild white meat rather than dark meat because of dark meat’s iron components.

Flavoring your turkey with a brine introduces a variety of flavors that potentially pair very well with this style. Most stuffings have herbal and toasted bread flavors that also tie-in nicely with a Belgian Golden Strong’s malt and spicy yeast flavors. With this style, you’ll often find white fruit esters like pear, apples and pepper phenols that help freshen and spice up the meal.

The more robust alcohol levels of this style (7-10% ABV) stand up to the richer side dishes that often accompany turkey. However, the style is dryer than many others, so it’s quite sessionable. Lastly, the beer’s higher carbonation levels scrub the tongue and get you ready for the next bite.

Homebrew Recipes	Description
Belgian Golden Strong Ale	This style usually have a fruity and/or spicy Belgian yeast character along with sweet Pilsner malt and light sugar characters in the the aromatics.
Walkin’ With The Man	This style has high alcohol content, which ranges from subtle, to spicy, to downright obvious. Expect a complex yet delicate ale with the hop and malt characters varying from spicy to fruity with a dry finish.

The Plate

• Roasted butternut squash salad with vinegrette
• Brined herb crusted turkey with gravy
• Freshly baked house rolls
• Baked mashed potatoes with cheese and bread crumbs

• Green bean casserole
• Orange-cranberry sauce
• Your favorite mac ‘n cheese
• Apple pie with vanilla ice cream

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Other Thanksgiving Beer Pairings

If you’re feeling ambitious, try some of these pairings to really focus on how a style can either complement or contrast flavors in food.

Beer Style & Side Dish	Description
Berliner Weisse with cranberry sauce	A sweet-and-sour pairing that’ll play with your taste buds and keep you interested.
Amber Ale with mushroom and bacon stuffing	Because this stuffing includes earthy flavors from mushrooms, the Amber Ale will match nicely with this dish.
Bière de Garde with sweet potatoes	This style, with its nutty caramel flavor and slight funk, matches up well with sweet potatoes.
Russian Imperial Stout with pumpkin pie	This dessert with a scoop of vanilla ice cream or whipped cream can take on heavy beers like the Russian Imperial Stout.
Milk Stout with pecan pie	Creamy with a smooth finish, the Milk Stout has nuttiness and vanilla that will complement the pecan pie.
Dunkelweizen with apple pie	With banana, raisin and nut flavors, this beer will fit right into cinnamon-apple flavor pies.

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Sources:

• Beer Pairing: The Essential Guide From the Pairing Pros by Julia Herz & Gwen Conley
• The Brewmaster’s Table: Discovering the Pleasures of Real Beer with Real Food by Garrett Oliver

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Marcus Duffey - Via Brewers Association

What’s your current position at your brewery, and how did you get started in the craft brewing industry? I am general manager and partner at Great Northern Brewing Co. [in Whitefish, Mont.] My passion for craft beer began in my dorm room at Gonzaga University in Spokane, Wash. I pursed the industry upon graduation, and […]

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The Shmaltz Brewing 6th Annual Beer Menorah Contest Starts Now! LIGHT ONE UP!

Get your Chanukah candles and He’brew Beer bottles ready, Shmaltz Brewing Company announces today the kick-off to the 6th Annual Build Your Own Beer Menorah Contest. This year’s photo contest is bigger and better than ever before with 5 ways to win, so light up the Holidays with your very own He’brew Beer Menorah. You’re only two steps away from constructing the best Beer Menorah. First, select which one to build: Shtick in a Box Menorah, Vertical Jewbelation Menorah, Hanukkah, Chanukah: Pass the Beer Menorah, Chanukah Meets Christmas Menorah, and Best in Show Menorah.

Step two, once you’ve built your Menorah, add candles and light ’em up, snap a picture and share it with friends on the Shmaltz Facebook page, Instagram or Twitter with the hashtag: #BeerMenorah #Shtickpic. The contest winner with the most “likes” will be awarded an extra special package of Shmaltz swag; if you live in New York State, you’ll also win a brewery tour and private tasting at Shmaltz Brewing in Clifton Park, NY.

Let the Games Begin! Here are 2015’s Beer Menorah Categories:

Shtick in a Box Menorah:
Step 1: Buy the Shtick In A Box holiday variety pack.
Step 2: Build a beer menorah, with candles (don’t forget the Shamash).
Step 3: Post your #ShtickPic and get the most likes to win!

Shtick In A Box® features three 12 oz. bottles of four different styles from the microbrewery’s award-winning portfolio. Shmaltz’s tribute to the little guy and affable underdog, Slingshot American Craft Lager is guaranteed to hit the craft beer bulls eye every time. Hop Manna IPA is the answer to hop heads’ prayers for a delicious IPA bearing floral and citrus flavors. Messiah Nut Brown Ale is the brown ale you’ve been waiting for with a complex yet smooth blend of bold dark malts revealing hints of chocolate, coffee and toffee paired with a lovely hop character. For Chanukah 2015, candles won’t be the only thing getting lit. Shmaltz releases Hannukah, Chanukah: Pass The Beer, a Dark Ale brewed with 8 malts, 8 hops and 8% ABV in homage of those 8 crazy nights.

Vertical Jewbelation Menorah:
Build your menorah with past and present bottles of Shmaltz’s award-winning Jewbelation® Anniversary Series of Strong Ales. Shmaltz’s latest release has a new take on the Jewbelation series with Jewbelation 19 (brewed with 10 malts, 9 hops, and a smooth 11.9% ABV), which is now legal in all 50 states including Ohio. Jewbelation 19 pairs well with a decadent dessert or shared with friends over a hearty winter meal. Winner with the most complete set of Jewbelation bottles and the most “likes” wins the prize.

Hanukkah, Chanukah: Pass the Beer Menorah:
By far the most inventive and festive menorah of the year, it’ll certainly gain the envy of friends and family! The official Chosen Beer of this holiday season, Hanukkah, Chanukah: Pass The Beer is a Dark Ale brewed with 8 malts, 8 hops, and heats up at 8% ABV. Break out the dreidels and gelt, fry up your latkes and smother it with applesauce, it’s time to celebrate Hanukah. To build the menorah, use whatever He’brew Beer of your choice and receive bonus points for only using Hanukah, Chanukah: Pass the Beer.

Chanukah Meets Christmas Menorah:
The Festival of Lights wouldn’t be the same without the soft glow of a Beer Menorah and the twinkling lights of a Christmas Tree. Chestnuts are roasting on an open fire and your Elf on the Shelf is carefully posed in a dreidel showdown with the dancing Rabbi while you fry up Bubbies famous latkes with applesauce. Show the world what makes your holiday season a festive occasion with a Beer Menorah that represents all that’s great to celebrate.

Best in Show Menorah:
The Beer Menorah that goes viral by receiving the most “likes” and “shares” on social media will win the Best in Show Menorah category. The winner will have a chance to kick back, enjoy a He’brew Beer and a big-ass prize from the Shmaltz Tribe.

L’Chaim!

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SweetWater Brewing Co.’s Black Friday and Cyber Monday Deals, Plus “Healing for the Holidays”

Black Friday: On November 27, 2015 from 3:00-7:30 pm, SweetWater Brewery will be open to give tours and spread the holiday cheer with deals this Black Friday.   195 Ottley Dr. Atlanta, GA  30324

• Door buster deal:  the first 50 customers in line at the brewery will receive a SweetWater Nalgene water bottle stuffed with a t-shirt.
  • 10 of those bottles will also be loaded with a $5 gift card, and one with a $25 gift card, to use in the SweetWater Schwag Shop.
• Reusable blue SweetWater totes will be available for purchase for $4.20 – anything from the schwag shop that fits in the bag will be eligible for 20% off that day.
• Men’s and Women’s clearance items will have an additional 15% off.

Cyber Monday: Starting at 12:01 AM on November 30, there will be cascading discounts every 6 hours for the t-shirt and glassware collections at http://ift.tt/1SaF9nh.   Discounts are as follows:

12:01-6:00 am – 50% off
6:01-12:00 pm – 40% off
12:01-6:00 pm – 30% off
6:01 pm-12 am – 20% off

12:01 am-6:00am – 10% off

Healing for the Holidays:  For holiday gifts with a heady heart, give SweetWater schwag and fishing gear to benefit Project Healing Waters, a non-profit that aids in the physical and emotional rehabilitation of disabled active and veteran United States military by taking them out on the water for fly fishing and other cathartic activities.  The brewery’s “Healing for the Holidays” program, which runs November 1, 2015, through the holiday season, will give back to the organization 100 % of proceeds from select SweetWater schwag like fishing shirts, fly boxes, Grizzly coolers, and Hoo-rag bandanas.    View and purchase items at http://ift.tt/KKzUy5

MORE ON PROJECT HEALING WATERS:
Project Healing Waters is dedicated to the physical and emotional rehabilitation of disabled active military service personnel and disabled veterans through fly fishing and associated activities, including education and outings.   Project Healing Waters Fly Fishing is a non-profit organization, which receives no government funding and is depending on tax-deductible, charitable donations and the help of numerous volunteers to meet the educational, equipment, transportation, and related needs of its participants.  Projected Healing Waters Fly Fishing, Inc. strives to effectively serve the deserving past and present members of our armed forces who have made great sacrifices in the service of our nation. Learn more about the great work that is being done at ProjectHealingWaters.org

ABOUT SWEETWATER BREWING CO.:
SweetWater Brewing Company, the South’s largest craft brewery, lives by the motto “Don’t Float the Mainstream!” The award-winning lineup of year-round beers includes SweetWater 420, IPA, Take Two Pils, Hop Hash, Blue, and Georgia Brown. SweetWater also features a catch and release series of beers available on a limited basis throughout the year including an experimental, one-time-only Dank Tank series and barrel-aged wild ales in the Cork & Cage series. SweetWater Brewery – located at 195 Ottley Drive in Atlanta – is open for tours every Wednesday, Thursday and Friday from 5:30 – 7:30 p.m. as well as Saturdays and Sundays from 2:30 – 4:30 p.m. For more information about SweetWater Brewing Company, please visit http://ift.tt/1iWEt3C. Follow SweetWater Brewing Company on Twitter/ Instagram @sweetwaterbrew, or become a fan on Facebook at http://ift.tt/1lVJYhL.

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How One Man Landed His Dream Job with a Bottle of Homebrew - via AHA

“I was proud of the product but nervous as I thought the person would either laugh or I would be written off as the madman of the brewing community.”

Liam Tutty, a homebrewer from Ireland, landed his dream job by simply sharing a bottle of his homebrew. Being well versed in digital media and design, Tutty designed a homebrew bottle label as a resume of sorts to give to Rye River Brewing Company who had announced they were undergoing expansion.

Read the full story on Mirror.co.uk

The post How One Man Landed His Dream Job with a Bottle of Homebrew appeared first on American Homebrewers Association.

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6 Tips on Brewing Kottbusser from Grimm Brothers Brewhouse - via AHA

Dan Chapman and Aaron Heaton were two Colorado homebrewers with an affinity for classic European beer styles—specifically those from Germany—and this passion lead to the opening of Grimm Brothers Brewhouse in Loveland, Colorado.

The name “Grimm Brothers” is based on the renowned Brothers Grimm—the masterminds behind the dark fairy tales like Cinderella and Hansel & Gretel—and also a sentiment to their desire to tell stories by brewing classic, and often forgotten, beer styles.

One such historic and nearly forgotten German beer style that Grimm Brothers has added to the repertoire is Kottbusser. Their version, Snowdrop, earned a silver medal ion the 2015 Great American Beer Festival and Brewmaster Don Chapman has some tips for homebrewers who want to pursue the Kottbusser style.

Take a look at a clone homebrew recipe of Grimm Brothers Brewhouse Snowdrop Kottbusser.

What is Kottbusser?

Kottbusser is said to be a cousin of the grand family of “white beers” due to the use of wheat malt. Supposedly named after the town Kötbuss in Germany, Kottbusser is a golden-colored ale brewed with wheat, oats and barley, a healthy addition of noble hops to create a floral bouquet in the aroma and honey and molasses to add more fermentable sugar and a bit of subtle complexity. But what sets Kottbusser apart from other wheat-based German beer styles, like hefeweizen, is the clean fermenting yeast. Hefeweizens are known for their yeast-forward character, which can embody notes of banana, clove and even bubblegum, but Kottbusser was fermented clean with nearly no discernible yeast character.

Coming in table strength (~3% ABV) and stronger (~6%) versions, Kottbusser’s use of wheat, oats, honey and molasses made it illegal after 1877 due to Germany’s strict Beer Purification Law. This ultimately ceased the commercial brewing of Kottbusser and ultimately lead it to fade into obscurity.

Today, it’s been homebrewers and craft breweries like Grimm Brothers Brewhouse who have been reviving the style and bringing it to the attention of beer drinkers around the world. More information on Kottbusser can be found in Randy Mosher’s book, Radical Brewing.

Tips for Homebrewing a Kottbusser

Don Chapman, founder and brewmaster at Grimm Brothers Brewhouse, shared the following tips for homebrewers who are pursuing a Kottbusser.

1. Yeast Selection

Select a clean fermenting ale yeast when making Ksottbusser. Northern German beers tend to be clean, crisp and have characteristics similar to lagers. Alt yeast is a great option (try White Labs WLP029), but a quality clean fermenting ale yeast, like White Labs California Ale Yeast (WLP001) or Safale US-05 American Ale Yeast, can still turn out great Kottbusser. If you ferment with an alt yeast, make sure to ferment at the proper temperatures according to the yeast’s instructions.

2. Molasses Flavor

Molasses can be a very strong and overpowering ingredient in beer, so be careful not to use too much when brewing a Kottbusser. If you use too much molasses or blackstrap molasses, the beer can end up with an unfavorable metallic quality that can hurt the finished product.

3. Stuck Mash

Kottbusser malt bills contain wheat and oats, which can lead to the dread stuck sparge where the liquid is difficult to drain from the mash tun. Depending on your brew system and the amount of wheat and malt being used, you might want to consider using rice hulls to prevent a stuck sparge and keep the wort flowing into your boil kettle.

4. Mash Temperature

When mashing, aim for a temperature rest in the range of 151-154°F (°C). This temperature will give the beer some body since the addition of the honey and molasses is very fermentable and can dry the character out.

5. Traditional Hops

Use a generous amount of aroma hops to give the Kottbusser a nice floral bouquet. To keep the beer true to tradition, I would stick with Noble hops (Hallertauer Mittelfrüh, Tettnang, Spalt, Saaz). Shoot for a bitterness in the range of 20-30 IBUs.

6. Lager the Ale

Consider lagering the beer for a week or so after fermentation has completed. This gives the flavors time to mellow and meld, and make for a more well-rounded Kottbusser.

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Grimm Brothers Brewhouse Snowdrop (Kottbusser) - via AHA

To brew this Kottbusser, mash grains at 152°F (67°C) for 60 minutes. Sparge at 168°F (76°C).

Conduct a 90 minute boil.

Ferment at 63°F (17°C).

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Relax, Don’t Worry, It’s Learn to Homebrew Day! - via AHA

Now in its 18th year, the American Homebrewers Association’s (AHA) Learn to Homebrew Day has become a highly anticipated staple of the fall season for thousands of people around the world. On the first Saturday of November, hundreds of homebrew clubs, shops, craft breweries, beer bars, and individuals get together to teach friends the art of making beer at home.

On Saturday, Nov. 7, the AHA partnered with 360 sites around the world to celebrate. Over 5,900 people brewed 6,284 gallons of beer in 936 batches. We were proud to have 47 states and 10 countries teaching soon-to-be homebrewers the ropes!

“This was our first year ever participating in Learn to Homebrew Day,” said Cooper Greene of Fargo, ND, “but it certainly will not be our last. I had no idea how many people lived right up the street from me that wanted to learn more about brewing their own beer. It was a great day, and we’re already thinking of ways to make it even bigger in 2016!”

Don’t forget to mark your calendars for next year’s Learn to Homebrew Day on November 5, 2016.

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Trinity Brewhouse

When I visited with Tommy Tainsh, he had just returned from the Great International Beer Festival in Providence, Rhode Island, the same city where he has brewed craft beer since 1998 at Trinity Brewhouse. He brought home a handful of medals—three golds and a silver—for beers ranging from a stout to a Belgian strawberry ale with 11 percent alcohol.

“The Belgian strawberry has a cult following,” said Tainsh, who became head brewer in 2013. “We blew through 14 barrels in the six days that we had it on tap.”

His success is not difficult to understand when you listen to him talk about the craft of making better beer. A chef by training, he “loves” designing craft beer recipes.

Tainsh is also the kind of guy who insists that things are done right. By his admission this means he works some long hours.

“This summer we did three to four off-premise events setting up beer gardens with our food truck, said Tainsh. “We were getting to the supply house around seven, then brewing until three or four then back to the food truck until 11 pm. After about ten years, I finally took a week off to go on vacation this year because my fiancé insisted I take a break.”

Tainsh keeps his crew small, himself and one assistant brewer and puts a huge emphasis on safety for his crew. He learned this lesson 15 years ago when a fermenter blew up in the brewery. He said they were lucky no one was hurt.

“We had too many people working, tripping over each other and someone made a mistake, leaving the CO2 tank open and walking away. I notice that the more people who are brewing, the more things go wrong. So I like fewer people brewing, so I know what’s going on.”

Trinity Head Brewer Tommy Tainsh | © John W. Mitchell

However, he said overall that the Trinity Brewhouse has had good fortune. The craft beer boom has created a strong demand for local beers. For Trinity, local is everything. The brewery sells nearly all of its product as fast as they can make it at their downtown location.

“We brew nonstop,” Tainsh explained. He compares the rise of craft beer to rap music in the 1980’s. “Everyone thought rap music was a flash in the pan, but it’s what people wanted. Craft beer is the same way.”

Trinity Brewhouse serves from a 10-tap bar that Tainsh keeps supplied brewing on a 20-barrel system. His wide-rang of beers have a wonderful unique earthy flavor. The Trinity brews also sport a mild to medium cloudiness that gives a rich taste and looks inviting in a glass.

Tainsh makes it all—from stouts to wheat beers and IPAs to spiced beers. The Captain America, Tommy’s Red Ale and Belgian Witbier were notable standouts during my visit.

As with most long-time craft brewers, earlier pioneers inspired Tainsh.

“I wouldn’t be brewing craft beer today it wasn’t for Sierra Nevada,” he said. “The first time I had Sierra Nevada, I knew that’s what good beer should taste like. I was ready for a career change from being a chef and craft beer pointed the way.”

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